What is "marathon"

marathon \marathon\ n.

1. A footrace of 26 miles 385 yards. [WordNet sense 2]

2. Hence: Any long and arduous undertaking, straining the endurance of the participants. [WordNet sense 1]

   Syn: endurance contest.

3. (Capitalized)a battle in 490 BC in which the Athenians and their allies defeated the Persians. [WordNet sense 3]

   Syn: battle of Marathon.

1896, marathon race, from story of Greek hero Pheidippides, who in 490 B.C.E. ran the 26 miles and 385 yards to Athens from the Plains of Marathon to tell of the allied Greek victory there over Persian army. The original story (Herodotus) is that he ran from Athens to Sparta to seek aid, which arrived too late to participate in the battle. Introduced as an athletic event in the 1896 revival of the Olympic Games, based on a later, less likely story, and quickly extended to mean "any very long event or activity." Related: Marathoner (by 1912).

n. 1 A 42.195 kilometre (26 mile 385 yard) road race. 2 (context figuratively by extension English) Any extended or sustained activity.

1. n. any long and arduous undertaking [syn: endurance contest]

2. a footrace of 26 miles 385 yards

3. a battle in 490 BC in which the Athenians and their allies defeated the Persians [syn: battle of Marathon]

A marathon is a distance race of , and often refers by analogy to any arduous or time-consuming undertaking.

Marathon may also refer to:

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres (26.219 miles, or 26 miles 385 yards), usually run as a road race. The event was instituted in commemoration of the fabled run of the Greek soldier Philippides, a messenger from the Battle of Marathon to Athens, who reported the victory.

The marathon was one of the original modern Olympic events in 1896, though the distance did not become standardized until 1921. More than 500 marathons are held throughout the world each year, with the vast majority of competitors being recreational athletes as larger marathons can have tens of thousands of participants.

Marathon is the tenth studio album by Santana. This marked the beginning of the group's commercial slide, in spite of having the Top 40 hit "You Know That I Love You". Alex Ligertwood, who would sing with the group throughout the 1980s, joined the group for this album.

Marathon is a first-person shooter video game developed and published by Bungie, and released in December 1994 for the Apple Macintosh. The game takes place several centuries into the future in outer space and sets the player as a security officer attempting to defeat an alien invasion aboard a colony ship named the Marathon.

Although Marathon is a first-person shooter, the game is known for having an intricate storyline that is also an essential element of its gameplay, whereas many similar games devote minimal attention to plot in favor of faster, more action-oriented gameplay. In addition to its single-player scenario, Marathon also features a multiplayer deathmatch mode through which up to eight players can compete against each other on the same computer network, via individually linked computers. This functionality increased anticipation for Marathon prior to release, and won the game the Macworld Game Hall of Fame Award for the best multiplayer game in 1995.

Marathon is the first game in a series of three games collectively known as the Marathon Trilogy, which also includes its two sequels, Marathon 2: Durandal and Marathon Infinity, released in 1995 and 1996 respectively. In 1996, Bungie completed Super Marathon, a port of Marathon and Marathon 2 to Apple's short-lived Apple Bandai Pippin video game console.

Marathon is a 2005 South Korean film directed by Jeong Yoon-cheol, and starring Jo Seung-woo, Kim Mi-sook and Lee Ki-young. It received 5,148,022 admissions, making it the 4th most attended Korean film of 2005.

Based on the true story of Bae Hyeong-jin, an autistic marathon runner, the film popularized the South Korean term for autism which can be translated as "self-closed syndrome."

The Marathon was an automobile built by the Marathon Motor Works company in Nashville, Tennessee. It was manufactured from 1911 to 1914 when financial difficulties forced the company to sell its machinery to another automaker in Indianapolis. Only eight examples of the car are known to still exist.

Marathon is a studio album by Saga, their fifteenth album of new material.

"Marathon" is the 4th track on Canadian rock band Rush's 1985 album Power Windows. It was released as a single 4 years later in 1989 and reached #6 on the US Mainstream Rock chart.

It is written by Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist/ vocalist/ keyboardist Geddy Lee, and its lyrics are written by drummer and lyricist Neil Peart. The lyrics depict how one would feel while running in an actual marathon, but the meaning of the song is meant to use a marathon (an extreme challenge) as a metaphor for life, and say that life is full of obstacles and is all about achieving one's personal goals.

In an 1986 interview, Peart said "(Marathon) is about the triumph of time and a kind of message to myself (because I think life is too short for all the things that I want to do), there's a self-admonition saying that life is long enough. You can do a lot -- just don't burn yourself out too fast trying to do everything at once. Marathon is a song about individual goals and trying to achieve them. And it's also about the old Chinese proverb: 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

A marathon is an event in which viewers or readers engage many hours-worth of media (film, television, books, YouTube videos etc.) in a condensed time period. This phrase represents a two-fold shift from binge-watch in that it incorporates other media (not just television) and it reduces the negative connotations associated with bingeing. In the 2014 book Media Marathoning: Immersions in Morality, Lisa Perks describes media marathoning as a “comprehensive and complimentary phrase” that “connotes a conjoined triumph of commitment and stamina. This phrase also captures viewers’ or readers’ engrossment, effort, and sense of accomplishment surrounding their media interaction.” Netflix Executive Todd Yellin is quoted as saying "I don't like the term 'binge,' because it sounds almost pathological. 'Marathon' sounds more celebratory."

Media marathons can be organized around particular series, particular artists (e.g., Kurosawa or Hitchcock), or genres (e.g., horror films or chick flicks). Marathons can be user-created: one person decides to undertake a marathon solo or to organize a group marathon. Marathons may also be producer-created. Producer-created marathons are usually orchestrated by movie theaters (such as AMC with the 2014 Hobbit Marathon), fan sites (such as TheOneRing.net), or by cable channels that show already-run seasons (such as AMC TV with The Walking Dead season 4 marathon in 2013), and, more recently, with original first-run programming through streaming services (such as Netflix's House of Cards). In television, a marathon is an extension of the concept of block programming.